Google Fitbit Air

The Google Fitbit Air is nicely designed and generally accurate, with the real meat being its AI-powered companion app. It’s light and comfortable to wear, and from that standpoint it’s certainly easy to forget it’s there, which makes it a great passive sleep- and health-tracking option. The premium-tier Google Health Coach AI will split opinions — if you love interacting with chatbots, you’ll love it, and if you don’t you won’t — but without the premium subscription, the Air is a little limited.

I’ve long sung Whoop’s praises, but Google has taken the crown with the Fitbit Air, offering essentially the same screen-free experience in a much smaller, more comfortable package, all at a fraction of the cost. Screenless trackers still won’t be for everyone, but thanks to the fantastic Google Health app and genuinely impressive value for money, the Fitbit Air is an easy recommendation.

The Fitbit Air is a lightweight, affordable screen-free fitness tracker that delivers strong sleep and heart rate tracking plus standout AI coaching, making it the best all-around entry in the category.

Google’s first screenless fitness tracker is an amazing achievement, one that takes the concept of Whoop’s in-depth health analysis and opens it up to the masses with a budget price. The device itself is comfortable to wear, and although it does cost extra, the Gemini AI-powered Health Coach is the real cherry on top, making the process of setting up and sticking to a workout routine easier than ever.

Google arguably has an advantage when it comes to AI and software, and Fitbit has established dominance in the land of heart-rate trackers. The Fitbit Air feels like a natural marriage of the two companies' strengths and presents a compelling alternative to Whoop. As long as Google maintains support for this latest device and continues to improve its software, it might have a winner on its hands.

The 2026 Fitbit Air is a discreet and distraction-free (no screen) fitness tracker that's easy to use, lightweight, and oh-so-comfortable. Just $99 and subscription-free for core features, it offers a week of battery, and covers all the holistic metrics you'd expect from a modern device, like heart health, sleep quality, daily movement, and workouts. Plus, the Air is just as reliable at logging sleep trends and fitness efforts as Garmin watches that cost 2.5x as much; just be sure to carry a paired smartphone for location tracking. All of your data and insights are neatly organized within the new Google Health companion app, formerly the Fitbit app.

At its best, the Air feels like a centralized health companion that quietly encourages healthier habits. For anyone who wants a more proactive relationship with their health, especially in a healthcare system that often feels reactive and inaccessible, it's empowering to have this much insight available on your own terms. The Fitbit Air is one of the most approachable ambient wearables available today.

The Fitbit Air is small, screenless, and subscription-optional, and after a week on my wrist, I’m convinced it’s the one to beat.